Olympiacos pulled away late to down Zalgiris 78-64 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Thursday for the Reds’ fifth straight Turkish Airlines Euroleague win. Although the fate of both teams was sealed last week, they both played hard and the game had plenty of tension until a 10-0 fourth quarter run secured the hosts’ victory. Rasho Nesterovic paced Olympiacos with 20 points and 3 blocked shots. Yotam Halperin and Jamon Gordon added 12 apiece with the former dishing 5 assists and the latter grabbing 6 rebounds. Vassilis Spanoulis scored 10 for Olympiacos, which finished the Top 16 as the Group H champ and will face Montepaschi Siena in the Quarterfinal Playoffs. Mantas Kalnietis scored 16 for Zalgiris, which bids farewell to the Euroleague this season with a 1-5 Top 16 record. Trent Plaisted posted 11 points and 10 rebounds in defeat.

Olympiacos came out with an unusual lineup with Andreas Glyniadakis making his first start of the season and Zoran Erceg and Gordon making their third. The visitors took advantage and jumped to an early lead thanks to baskets by Plaisted on the offensive glass and Kalnietis in transition. Glyniadakis opened the hosts’ account from the line. Marty Pocius made it 2-6 before the Reds got going. Kostas Papanikolaou started a fastbreak with a block and Erceg finished it with a layup to tie the game. Milos Teodosic added a triple and Gordon spun through the paint for a pretty layup as part of an 11-0 run to put Olympiacos in control. Kalnietis stopped the Reds’ run with a pair of free throws and soon Marcus Brown landed a three-pointer to carry Zalgiris within 15-11. The visitors’ defense frustrated the home team, leading head coach Dusan Ivkovic to call for Theo Papaloukas from the bench. The momentum stayed with Zalgiris as Boban Marjanovic made it a 1-point game from the line. Spanoulis made a pretty feed to Papaloukas for a layup, but DeJuan Collins kept Kalgiris close before dropping a pass in Marjanovic’s lap for a dunk at the buzzer to make it 19-20 after one quarter.

Halperin drained a triple early in the second quarter, but Zalgiris hung tough and tied the score at 24-24 following a Collins assists for a one-handed Plaisted slam. Paulius Jankunas put the visitors ahead 26-27 with a basket-plus-foul. Pocius lobbed an alley-oop to Kalnietis for a layup to stretch the lead only to see Nesterovic score and draw a foul inside. Halperin drilled an open three from the corner, but Kalnietis drained a jumper to tie the score at 31-31. The hosts started to streamline their offense with Matt Nielsen and Loukas Mavrokefalides pushing the lead to 39-32. Brown and Lucas each scored once more to push the score to 41-34 at halftime.

Toma Delininkaitis hit from downtown and Kalnietis drove for his 10th point as Zalgiris narrowed the gap to 2 early in the second half. Nesterovic dropped in a hook shot to keep the Reds in control. Delininkaitis banked in a jumper and later added a three as the visitors fought back. Marjanovic used all his height to corral an offensive rebound and convert a three-point play to make it 50-47. All the way it was Nesterovic keeping Olympiacos ahead with his mid-range shooting. A no-look Papaloukas pass for a Nesterovic layup gave the latter 10 third-quarter points and the Reds a 56-47 advantage. Marjanovic stretched for a slam before Spanoulis sank a jumper in the lane to make it 58-49 heading into the fourth quarter.

Olympiacos picked up the pace for the final quarter. Kalnietis scored first, but then Spanoulis responded and Papaloukas’s steal led to a Halperin layup and a double-digit lead. Pocius set Plaisted up for a two-handed slam that made it 62-55, but Nesterovic and Spanoulis lifted the Reds back to a comfortable margin. Nesterovic blocked Plaisted twice to draw cheers from the crowd and Gordon lifted the lead to 15 from the line. Nesterovic soon added his 20th point to cap a 10-0 run that essentially sealed the outcome at 76-57 with two minutes remaining.

Head Coaches

IVKOVIC, DUSAN

Olympiacos Piraeus

"We deserved a spot at the Quarterfinals and I have to congratulate the players, the training staff and the board. Tonight, we had just a simple goal; to finish the Top 16 with a game of good basketball. I think we did that; we might have had some ups and downs in the game, but in general we proved that we are in good condition. We have the desired shape at the moment and I believe we have control of the situation. Now, we will have a break due to the Greek All Star Game and it depends on us if we are going to hold on playing good after that, too. After our home shock-defeat to Fenerbahce in the opening Top 16 game, we learned our lesson, played better as a team and managed to qualify at the top spot. This loss finally helped us a lot. We are now pressing the ball more, we steal it, and both our guards and big guys deliver in that area. Furthermore, more players understood their role and are now part of the mix, such as Gordon and Halperin."

ZOUROS, ILIAS

Zalgiris Kaunas

"Olympiacos is in good shape, they play very good as a team and I hope they go as deeper as it gets in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. I would like to thank the crowd for its applause; it’s important and that gives us encouragement to continue trying hard. We did not use Watson, because he had a personal issue and was coming from his trip to the USA. The game did not have any motive concerning the final standings, so we gave Watson the opportunity to rest. Our main problem is that we had periods during the game that we lost our concentration. We have to work and improve that. We tried a lot of zone-defense; I think we will need it in the other competitions, in which we are participating till the end of the season."

Players

PAPALOUKAS, THEODOROS

Olympiacos Piraeus

"This was a game whose final result would not alter both teams’ final group position. We weren’t as focused and aggressive as usual, but that’s normal since we had already qualified for the quarterfinals. We strengthened our defense and moved better the ball in the final quarter, so we managed to run away from Zalgiris and add another win. Now, we are facing Siena for a birth in the Turkish Airlines Final Four. Siena holds a very strong team. They had missed their starting play-maker Bo McCalebb, but Nikos Zisis has been stepping up and has been doing an excellent job filling in his shoes. We have been practicing all season long to be ready for these games, so I hope we will do our best. It is very important that against Siena we are the team to have the home court advantage."

COLLINS, DeJUAN

Zalgiris Kaunas

"There was no actual motive for any of the teams on court, tonight. Olympiacos had qualified and we did not, and that was known before the beginning of the game. But, we came to Athens to have a good performance and prove competitive to one of the best teams in Europe. Till one point, I think we managed to do that. We played good defense and found some good opportunities on the offensive end. However, after halftime and as time went by, Olympiacos started to take control of the game. When they built a 7-8 point-difference, we did not react and let them run away."